Lunchtime read: Russian Short Stories

Because there are still lots of stories left unread and it seems to accompany the Kafka very well I’m sticking with the Russian Short Stories this week.

God sees the truth, and waits - Leo Tolstoy
A good man, Alsyonov, tells his wife he is off to the market and she tells him she has had a dream that it will ruin him so she tells him not to go. He ignores her and meets up with a friend, stays the night with him in an inn, and then after leaving early the morning after is stopped by the police and charged with the murder of his merchant friend who has been found with his throat cut. Alsyonov is found with a bloodied knife in his bag and gets 26 years in Siberia. While there a man comes in who he knows really killed his friend and after he discovers him trying to escape but refuses to drop him in it with the governor. The prisoner begs for his forgiveness and confesses to the murder of the merchant but by the time the release papers come through Alsyonov has died.

That’s a cheery lunch time tale. More of the same probably tomorrow…